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Hiotographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WIST  MAIN  STRtET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4S03 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVl/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Cenadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notea/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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r~7r'^  Coloured  covers/ 
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I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


□ 


□ 


D 


a 


Couverture  endommagde 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pellicul^e 


n    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le 


titre  dw  couverture  manque 


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10X  14X  18X  22X 


12X 


16X 


20X 


26X 


30X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  b^en  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  ot: 

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gAnirositA  de: 

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filmage. 

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empreinte. 


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shall  contain  the  symbol  ^^^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
derni6re  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  !e 
cas:  le  symbols  -^  sigiiifio  'A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


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reproduit  en  un  seul  ciichi,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  i'angle  sup6rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  drcite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  la  nombre 
d'images  nicessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m^thode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

THE 


RELATION   OF  THE   FISHERIES 


TO  THB 


S  ( 


DISCOVERY  AND   SETTLEMENT 


NORTH     AMERICA. 


DBLIVBRBD  BBFORB  THB 


NEW  HAMPSHIRE  HISTORICAL  .SOCIETV,  AT^CONCORD,  JUNE,  1880, 
AND  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  FISH  AND   GAME  PRO- 
TECTION SOCIETY,  AT  BOSTON,  1880, 


BY 


•    CHARLES  LEVI  WOODBURY, 

Honorary  Mbmbbr  of  the  Histop.ical  SoaBTiEs  of  Nbw  Hampshirb  and  of  Mainb, 

AND   ViC2-PrbSIDBNT  OF  THB  MaSSACHUSBTTS   FiSH  AND 

Gamb  Protection  Soobty, 


BOSTON: 

ALFRED   MUDGE   &    SON,   PRINTERS, 

34  School  Strbbt. 

1880. 


THE 


RELATION   OF  THE   FISHERIES 


TO  THB 


DISCOVERY  AND   SETTLEMENT 


OP 


NORTH     AMERICA. 


OLLltrBKRD  BBFORB  THB 


NEW  HAMPSHIRE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY,  AT  CONCORD,  JUNE,  ,8.So, 
AND  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   FISH  AND   GAME  PRO- 
TECTION SOCIETY.  AT  BOSTON,  .880, 


HY 


CHARLES   LEVI   WOODBURY,         r? 

IIONORARV    MbMBBR   OF   THB    HISTORICAL   SoaHTIES   OF    NbW    HaMPSH.RR   AND   OF    MaINE, 

AND  Vice-President  of  the  Massachusetts  Fish  and 
Game  Protection  Societv. 


BOSTON: 

ALFRED    MUDGE   &    SON,    PRINTERS, 

3  4   School  Street, 

1880. 


«ffi:3 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  FISHERIES 


TO    THB 


DISCOVE[|^f  AND  SETTLEMENT  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 


DISCOVERY. 

The  desire  to  find  a  short  route  to  the  Indies  stimulated 
Columbus  to  the  discovery  of  America.  The  success  of 
Magellan  in  the  south  excited  other  explorers  to  seek  a  passage 
by  the  north  or  northwest  to  the  Indies.  A  mental  convic- 
tion, not  born  of  knowledge,  pushed  them  on  from  the  time 
of  Cabot,  and  has  not  yet  spent  its  force.  Thirty  years  after 
Columbus's  discovery,  the  land  here  was  supposed  to  be  the 
back  part  of  Cathay,  and  he  had  long  been  dead  before  geog- 
raphers began  to  suggest  these  lands  were  a  continent.  In 
1540  the  French  patent  to  Jacques  Cartier  describes  Canada 
and  Hochelaga  as  forming  one  end  of  Asia  on  the  west  side. 

Whilst  gold  and  the  spices  of  India  were  exciting  the 
cupidity  and  the  enterprise  of  Europe,  small  was  the  attention 
given  by  the  great  to  the  humble  occupation  and  daring 
energy  of  the  craft  of  fishermen  who  ranged  the  most  danger- 
ous parts  or  the  stormy  ocean  in  pursuit  of  cod,  herring,  and 
mackerel.  No  literary  idlers  collected  their  lore  and  dressed 
it  in  popular  form.  No  path  to  fame  was  supposed  to  lay 
across  the  gurry-covered  deck,  or  to  be  enfolded  in  the 
well-tanned  seine.  Hakluyt  and  Purchas,  Peter  Martyr  and 
Cortereal,  deemed  it  hardly  of  moment  to  mention  these 
men  of  the  harpoon  and  the  hook  and  line  and  seine ;  and 
when  they  sought  them  for  information,  which  was  not  infre- 
quent, what  they  obtained  from  the  close-mouthed  craft  was 
regarded  and  used  as  their  own  original  matter.  Dimly 
among  the  printed  records  of  early  voyagers,  and  amid  the 


\ 


mouldering  papers  in  public  archives,  can  we  catch  a  trace  of 
what  this  craft  were  about  at  the  time  when  modern  literature 
claims  that  America  was  discovered  by  royal  expeditions  and 
lord  high  admirals  under  flags  of  Spain  or  England,  France 
or  Portugal.  Yet  there  are  some  grounds  for  believing  that 
"the  skippers"  and  "the  sharesmen"  were  on  these  shores 
before  the  admirals.  In  the  European  settlement  of  those 
parts  of  North  Anr.erica  which  are  contiguous  to  the  fisheries, 
it  is  curious  to  compare  the  potential  influences  of  the  royal 
charters  and  their  grantees  with  those  the  fisheries  exercised 
in  bringing  about  the  settlements  and  occupation  of  the  shores 
by  the  European  race.  I  shall  present  some  crude  views  on 
this  subject,  which,  in  connection  with  latest  investigations 
into  the  protection  and  restor.don  of  the  cod-fishery  to  its 
former  prosperity,  have  formed  the  subject  of  an  address  lately 
given  before  a  society  in  a  sister  State  organized  for  the  pro- 
tection of  fish  and  game. 


THE    GRAND    BANKS. 

When  were  they  discovered  ? 

The  great  Admiral  Columbus  came  no  farther  north  than 
the  latitude  of  Florida.  Tne  Cabots  make  no  mention  ot  the 
Grand  Banks.  These,  then,  did  not  discover  them.  The 
younger  Cabot  describes  the  "  Isles  of  Baccalaos,"  which  may 
be  the  Magdalen  Isles  or  Cape  Breton  or  some  other  and  unim- 
portant islands  on  the  coast  of  Labrador  or  Newfoundland  ; 
but  there  are  no  islands  on  the  Grand  Banks.  How  came 
this  Bristol-born  Englishman  in  a  royal  ship  to  use  this 
Basque  word  "  baccalaos  "  in  place  of  the  word  "  cod,"  which 
all  Somerset  and  Englishmen  use,  unless  he  found  it  so 
applied  already  to  these  islands  .■'  As  a  discoverer,  in  emu- 
lation of  Spanish  and  Portuguese  world-famed  explorations,  for 
his  owner  and  master,  Henry  VII.  of  England,  he  would  scarcely 
have  been  giving  a  Basque  name  to  islands  he  discovered.  It 
is,  then,  improbable  that  Cabot  gave  this  name,  and  it  is  prob- 


aWe  that  he  took  the  name  of  Baccalaos  from  those  who  had 

preceded  him  thee.     Cabot,  his  reporters  say,  stated  this  was 

the  native  name  for  this  land  ;  but  we  know  the  philology  of 

the  word  better  than  he  did  ;  and  admitting  that  he  reported 

the  Indian  correctly,  the  proof  is  more  convincing  that  the 

Basques  had  been  there  before  him. 

The  next  voyagers  whose  narratives  have  come  down  to  us 

are  Cortereal,  Verazzano,  Gomez,  and  John  Rut  ;  but  neither 

of  these  professes  to  have  discovered  the  Grand  Banks.     Rut 

states  that  at  Newfoundland  he  met  at  the  harbor  of  St.  John's 

eleven  sail  Normand,  one  Breton,  and  two  Portuguese  fishing 

vessels.     An  English  play,  an  "  Interlude,"  cited  by  Nichols 

in  his  life  of  Cabot,  with  the  attributed  date  of  15  lo,  states 

that,  — 

"  Now,  Frenchmen  and  others  have  found  the  trade, 
That  yearly  of  fish  there  they  lade, 
Above  a  hundred  sayle." 

There  are  still  earlier  notices  of  the  fishermen.  Among 
these,  the  most  active  were  the  Basques,  who,  their  traditions 
say,  were  drawn  there  in  the  pursuit  of  whales. 

The  name  of  Cape  Breton,  as  well  as  tnat  of  Baccalaos,  is 
taken  from  the  Basque  language. 

These  Basques  were  an  old  race,  living  partly  under  the 
French  and  a  part  under  the  Spanish  government,  plain 
fishermen,  far  from  the  influence  of  the  royal  expeditions  for 
discovery  of  routes  to  the  Indies,  and  indifferent  to  the  question 
about  the  Indies,  living  in  a  poor  country,  not  influential  a*, 
court  nor  distinguished  in  letters.  They  were  the  originators 
of  the  whale  fishery,  and  had  been  known  long  before  Colum- 
bus's time  as  hardy  fishermen  and  enterprising  whalemen, 
seeking  their  game  in  its  favorite  feeding  grounds.  It  is  to 
be  remarked  that  the  names  of  places,  islands,  harbors 
about  the  coast  of  Labrador,  Newfoundland,  and  Cape  Breton 
are  mostly  Basque  or  French.  It  is  claimed  by  those  who 
ought  to  know  that  the  natives  used  Basque  names  for  the 


i 


» 


implements  of  these  fisheries,  and  even  on  Cabot's  authority, 
that  they  had  at  his  discovery  adopted  the  Hasque  "  baccalaos  " 
(rather  than  the  French  "morue")  to  de^  ^.»atc  the  codfish 
and  the  country. 

It  is  claimed,  then,  that  they  were  pursuing  the  whale  and 
the  baccalaos  on  these  banks  and  shores  for  an  indefinite  time 
prior  to  Cabot's  voyaj^e,  and  were,  excluding  the  Norwegians' 
and  Icelanders'  voyages,  the  first  Europeans  to  visit  this  part 
of  North  America.  I  think  these  propositions  may  be  affirmed 
on  the  records.  Neither  Columbus,  Cabot,  nor  Cortereal  drew 
the  French  and  Hasque  fishermen  to  that  coast.  But  Cartier 
and  Gomez  found  a  lively  cod-fishery  going  on,  and  Cartier  run 
over  their  whaling  grounds.  The  fishermen  discovered  for 
themselves  these  coasts,  how  early  none  can  tell  ;  but  the 
fairest  analysis  of  Cabot's  remarks  leaves  the  logical  inference 
they  were  here  before  he  came. 

Authors  writing  prior  to  1550  admit  the  Basques  were 
whaling  and  fishing  on  this  coast  as  early  as  1504  ;  but  as  they 
assign  no  proof  that  these  people  began  then  to  fish  here,  the 
admission  that  they  were  here  then  is  no  denial  that  their 
enterprise  began  a  generation  sooner.  No  argument  can  be 
drawn  from  the  silence  of  the  Basques,  except  that  the  enter- 
prise was  good  enough  to  keep  for  their  own  use.  They  knew 
the  court  favorites  would  rob  them  of  its  profits  if  they  pub- 
lished the  news,  and  the  discoverers  par  le  roi  would  hardly 
wish  to  .mention  that  fleets  of  European  fishermen  hovered 
near  the  harbors  of  "  Prima  Vistu "  or  "  Baccalaos."  The 
royal  explorers  were  searching  for  the  Indies,  but  the  fisher- 
men cared  for  no  more  spicy  breezes  than  those  that  dried 
their  fish  and  fanned  the  fires  of  their  try-kettles  on  the  shores 
of  Norumbega. 

Until  it  can  be  shown  that  the  chartered  explorers  dis- 
covered the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  prior  to  the  Basques,  the 
silence  on  both  sides  remains  very  natural,  but  it  does  not 
weaken  the   Basque  argument  for  priority.     The  Count  de 


Prcmio  Real,  Consiil-Gcneral  of  Spain  for  the  Dominion  of 
Canada,  has  lately  revived  attention  to  this  subject,  and 
presseu  the  claims  of  the  Basques  with  an  array  of  facts 
and  ingenious  arguments,  in  which  he  has  the  support  of 
several  eminent  historical  investigators  of  Quebec  and  some 
in  this  country  and  Europe. 


VERAZZANO  IN   NEvV   HAMPSHIRE. 

Verazzano,  an  Italian  captriln  in  the  employ  of  the  French 
government,  sailed  from  Europe  in  1523,  and  struck  the 
American  coast  in  latitude  34°  N.  He  ran  to  the  northward, 
describing  the  coast  with  great  clearness.  It  would  seem  that 
after  leaving  Narraganset  Bay  he  landed  on  our  New  Hamp- 
shire coast.  His  descriptions  apply  to  points  in  the  limited 
region  between  Capa  Ann  and  Cape  Neddock  ;  and,  aided  by 
a  life-long  familiarity  with  the  appearance  of  that  coast  from 
the  sea,  I  cannot  resist  the  inferences  that  the  places  where 
he  describes  trading  with  the  natives,  his  boat  pulling  to  the 
edge  of  the  breakers,  and  throwing  to  the  natives  on  the  rocks 
things  they  had  to  barter,  by  means  of  a  line,  and  hauling  in 
the  return  "  truck,"  and  that  where  he  made  an  inland  excur- 
sion, must  either  have  been  at  the  east  end  of  Cape  Ann  or  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Piscataqua  River.  The  weight  of  the  whole 
description,  the  northeast  course  he  sailed  on  leaving,  and 
the  islands  he  saw,  are  alone  consistent  with  the  hypothesis 
that  the  Piscataqua  was  his  point  of  departure.  This,  too,  is 
confirmed  by  "  the  lofty  hills  "  which  he  saw  distant  in  the  in- 
terior, "  diminishing  towards  the  shore  of  the  sea,"  a  description 
fitting  the  appearance  of  the  first  ranges  of  the  New  Hamp- 
shire mountains, —  not  the  White  Hills,  but  those  of  North- 
wood,  Strafford,  Alton,  arid  Brookfield,  Gunstock  in  Gilford, 
Teneriffe  in  Milton,  "diminuendo"  to  the  coast  hills  like  the 


8 


"butter  pots,"  Bonnebeag  ii.  Berwick,  Stratham  Hill,  Frosts, 
and  Agamenticus  in  York. 

Any  visitor  at  the  Isles  of  Shoals  may  notice  the  correspond- 
ence of  the  description  with  the  view.  From  here  alone  on  the 
coast  he  describes  could  he,  by  the  dead  reckoning  and  course 
he  gives,  have  sailed  along  the  coast  for  "  fifty  "  leagues  north- 
east, either  actuall)  jt  approximately,  and  have  lound  on  such 
a  course  the  thirty  islands  he  reiers  to  on  his  port  side.  It 
will  be  observed,  that  after  sailing  this  over-estimated  fifty 
leagues,  he  hauls  his  course  to  east  and  then  north  for  o  le  hun- 
dred and  fifty  leagues.  As  Portland  is  a  few  miles  north  of 
the  latitude  of  Seal  Island  and  Cape  Sable,  this  east  course,  to 
have  carrieu  him  on  hie  voyage,  must  hav2  begun  as  far  south 
as  Portland  or  Seguin,  and  have  been,  as  he  states,  first  east 
(till  he  rounded  Cape  Sable)  and  then  north. 

The  White  Mountains  are  rarely  visible  in  summer  from  the 
sea  at  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  from  which  they  are  ninety-six  and 
two  thirds  statute  miles  distant,  true  bearing  north,  20°  31"  40" 
west.  Their  utmost  range  of  visibilitv  for  the  sea  horizon  is 
one  hundred  and  five  statute  miles.  The  first  range  I  have 
indicated,  which  is  only  some  thirty  miles  inland,  forms  an 
imposing  background  to  the  view  of  the  land  till  you  have 
passed  Cape  Neddock  ;  whilst  Agamenticus  and  other  hills 
near  the  shore  break  the  monotony  of  the  foreground,  and 
together  with  the  first  ranr;e  serve  as  landmarks  for  the  fisher- 
men, helping  them  to  find  their  various  fishing-grounds  in  the 
perilous  winter  fishery.  For  these  many  landmark  hills  they 
have  for  centuries  had  a  complete  set  of  names  among  them- 
selves, which  are  unknown  to  geographers  or  to  the  people 
living  about  the  foot  of  the  mountains. 

I  know  of  no  point  east  of  Agamenticus  where  Verazzano's 
description  of  the  hills  in  the  interior  diminishing  towards  th' 
coast  can  be  faithfully  applied.     At  Camden  there  are  hills 
near  to  tht  shore  which  close  the  view  inland. 


At  Portland  there  are  no  coast  ranges  of  hills  visible.  Cape 
Ann,  also,  lacks  the  mountain  landscape. 

Another  reason  for  my  view  is,  that  if  you  throw  his  posi- 
tion too  far  into  the  Gulf  of  Maine,  Verazzano  must  have  sailed 
southeast  to  get  into  the  open  ocean,  and  would  have  noticed 
the  fact  in  his  account. 

My  conclusion  is,  that  Verazzano  landed  at  or  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Piscataqua  in  1524,  and  traded  with  the  rude  natives, 
whose  fear  of  them  and  desire  for  knives  and  fish-hooks  yield 
a  strong  inference  they  had  met  the  white  man  before  and 
feared  his  kidnapping  propensities,  although  they  wanted  his 
fish  hooks  and  cutlery.  I  do  not  see  how  Verazzano,  from  his 
own  account,  could  have  got  farther  north  than  latitude  45°  or 
46^  but  he  very  distinctly  states  that  the  Portuguese  had  been 
before  him  on  the  shores  north  of  thai  latitude. 


ENGLISH. 

So  far  as  Cabot  or  the  English  were  concerned,  his  discov- 
eries excited  little  or  no  enterprise  in  that  direction.  Cabot  per- 
sonally went  into  the  service  of  Spain  at  the  La  Platte  ;  and 
when,  after  many  years,  he  returned  to  England,  he  became 
governor  of  the  Muscovy  Trading  Company.  No  account  of  his 
voyages  was  published  by  him.  A  few  reported  conversations 
are  all  we  have.  During  the  half-century  he  survived,  the 
fisheries  on  this  coast  were  carried  on  by  the  French,  Basque, 
and  Portuguese,  without  competition  from  England. 

True  it  is,  Cabot's  mind  continued  harassed  with  visions 
of  a  thwestern  and  of  a  northeastern  passage  to  the  Ivast 
Indies  ;  but  neither  founding  settlements  in  North  America 
nor  the  development  of  its  fisheries  ever  disturbed  its  sen- 
suous visions  of  reaching  the  Spice  Islands  and  the  Indies. 

England  was  lethargic  u-til  the  great  Devonshire  sailors 
woke  her  to  a  sense  of  her  own  power,  in  the  latter  half  of  the 


lO 


sixteenth  century.  Even  then,  reluctantly,  her  government 
turnPil  its  attention  to  the  fisheries.  On  her  east  coasts  the 
Dutch  gathered  the  golden  fruit,  on  the  coast  of  Ireland  the 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  drew  the  wealth  of  the  herring  and 
the  cod  ;  and  so  decrepit  was  her  own  smaller  industry,  that 
statutes  forbidding  the  English  fishermen  to  buy  fares  of  for- 
eigners on  the  seas,  and  others  (5  Elizabeth)  making  Wednes- 
day a  fish-day  in  addition  to  Fridays  and  Saturdays,  and  lit- 
erally penalizing  the  use  of  flesh  meat  on  these  days,  avowedly 
for  the  promotion  of  her  fisheries,  "  and  not  for  any  super- 
stition to  be  maintained  in  the  choice  of  meats,"  were  enacted. 

Hardly,  prior  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert's  day,  do  we  find  any 
record  that  the  English  had  become  participants  in  the  fisher- 
ies of  North  America ;  yet,  evidently,  the  western  men  had 
begin  upon  this  enterprise,  for  Capt.  Whitbourne,  in  his  nar- 
rative, tells  us  that  when  this  distinguished  sailor  took  posses- 
sion in  the  name  cf  Queen  Elizabeth  of  the  island  of  New- 
foundland and  of  the  Banks  (1582),  it  was  in  the  harbor  of 
St,  John's,  Newfoundland,  and  that  he  was  present,  "  being  in 
command  of  a  worthy  ship  of  220  tons,  set  forth  by  one 
Master  Crook,  of  Southampton." 

The  very  fame  which  has  surrounded  Sir  Humphrey  Gil- 
bert, in  connection  with  the  fishing  shores  of  North  America, 
is  a  strong  proof  that  the  developing  of  that  business  to  the 
English  is  due  mainly  to  his  sagacity. 

Haklujt,  the  chronicler  of  his  brother  Raleigh's  expeditions, 
urged  the  Queen  to  attempt  something  in  behalf  of  the  then 
growing  and  vigorous  English  enterprise.  The  patent  by 
James  I.,  in  1610,  to  the  Earl  of  Northampton,  authorizing  a 
settlement  to  be  made  in  Newfoundland,  says  that  coast  has 
been  .sed  for  more  than  fifty  years  for  the  fishery  by  the  Eng- 
lish, ,hich  does  not  even  pretend  that  it  began  until  twenty 
years  after  Jacques  Cartier  was  comr.iissioned  by  Francis  I. 
of  France  (1640),  as  the  admiral  and  governor  of  Canada  and 
Hochelaga,  "  making  qne  end  of  Asia  on  the  western  side." 


II 


Common  fame  is  right  in  this,  that  England  owes  to  the 
half-brothers  Gilbert  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  the  inception  of 
its  career  as  a  colonist,  and  to  the  stimulus  of  their  efforts  at 
home  even  more  than  to  their  pioneer  efforts,  that  rousing  of 
the  English  mind  to  grasp  the  national  wealth  and  ^lory  of 
colonial  enterprises.  They  both  paid  for  their  patriotism  with 
their  fortunes  and  their  lives  :  one  foundered  at  sea,  return- 
ing from  his  voyage ;  the  other,  beheaded  by  a  suspicious  and 
timid  king  to  propitiate  Spain,  who  feared  his  energy  would 
in  the  end  endanger  its  possessions  in  America.  All  Eng- 
land, but  the  court,  mourned  for  Raleigh  whilst  his  blue  blood 
was  clotting  on  the  block ;  and  for  England's  shame,  history, 
true  for  once  to  a  righteous  instinct,  has  clung  lovingly  to 
their  memories,  and  with  a  truthful  pen  placed  the  odium  of 
the  treason  to  England  on  the  king  who  killed,  and  not  on  the 
victim  whom  he  condemned. 

The  English  colonial  fever  continued  to  increase,  the  re- 
newed movements  of  France  to  settle  in  Acadia,  in  1603, 
under  De  Monts  and  the  prior  Robeval  expedition,  stirred 
them  to  action,  and  it  was  determined  to  take  possession  of 
and  occupy  Newfoundland.  The  right  of  her  claim  to  this 
land  was  based  on  Cabot's  alleged  discovery  a  century  or  so 
previously. 

The  accounts  of  Cabot's  expedition  are  vague  and  conflict- 
ing. Neither  journal  nor  report  was  made  by  him  that  we 
are  aware  of  The  conversations  with  him  reported  by  an- 
nalists took  place  at  least  thirty  years  after  the  events  they 
purported  to  describe.  Long  before  Cabot's  death  the  fame 
of  America  was  great  enough  to  justify  any  man  to  make  and 
publish  a  concise  and  distinct  account  of  a  voyage  whose 
pretensions  to  be  the  first  to  the  continent  were  so  bold. 
Cabot  had  wealth  and  position,  but  he  contented  himself  with 
loosc^  general  statements,  and  a  concealment  or  secrecy  as  to 
those  details  which  ordinary  navigators  produce  to  corroborate 
their  general  statements.     He  is,  as  its  record  now  appears, 


Ill  »»yMiir.i 


12 


by  no  means  a  satisfactory  authority  as  to  his  own  voyage. 
His  annalists  state  that  the  first  land  he  saw  he  named 
Premier  Vista,  and  the  isle  opposite,  St.  John.  These  would 
appear,  if  we  follow  the  courses  he  gives,  not  to  be  Labrador 
and  Newfoundland ;  and  the  other  hypothesis,  that  he  discov- 
ered Cape  Breton  and  saiv  from  t/iere  Prince  Edward's  Island, 
is  an  absurdity.  The  day  of  discovery  is  stated  to  be  St. 
John  the  Baptist's  day,  June  24,  1797.  To  the  Legate  of  the 
Pope  he  stated,  in  Spain,  "That  he  sailed  in  the  commence- 
ment of  the  summ'tr  of  1796!  and  sailed  northwest.  [He 
sailed  from  Bristol,,  latitude  50°.]  That  coming  up  with  the  land 
he  pushed  north  to  the  56''  north  latitude,  and  finding  the  land 
trended  eastward  he  despaired  of  finding  the  passage  to  the 
Indies,  and  turned,  ran  down  the  coast  towards  the  equator, 
looking  for  a  passage,  and  arrived  at  that  part  of  the  continent 
that  is  called,  actually,  Florida.  His  provisions  running  short, 
he  returned  to  England."  He  could  not  have  made  Newfound- 
land on  this  course.  To  Peter  Martyr  he  said,  "  He  first 
steered  so  far  towards  the  north  pole  that  even  in  July  he  found 
mountains  of  ice "  ;  these  obstructions  caused  him  to  steer 
westward,  coasting  along  a  land  which  "  he  called  Baccalaos, 
a  name  given  by  the  inhabitants  to  a  large  kind  of  fish,  which 
appeared  in  such  shoals  that  they  sometimes  interrupted  the 
progress  of  his  ships." 

A  pretty  good  fis/i  story  for  the  great  Sebastian  to  get  off. 
Baccalab  is  the  Portuguese,  and  baccalaos  is  the  Basque  and 
Spanish  name  for  the  ^^^-fish,  which  is  a  bottom  fish,  and  is 
never  found  swimming  near  the  surface  after  it  has  attained 
an  inch  or  so  of  length. 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  in  a  treati.se  on  a  discovery  of  a 
new  passage  to  Cathay,  written  (1583)  within  a  generation 
after  Cabot  s  death,  says  Cabot  sailed  west  with  a  quarter 
north,  and  entered  a  "  fret "  (strait)  in  the  north  side  of  the 
Terra  Labrador,  the  nth  June,  until  he  came  to  the  north 
latitude  67I'',  when  his  crew  prevented  his  pushing  farther 
westward. 


13 

Mr.  Kidder,  in  an  essay  published  in  the  Historical  and 
Genealogical  Register,  offers  strong  evidence  that  Cabot  could 
not  have  sailed  the  voyage  he  describes  in  the  time  he  was 
absent  from  England. 

THE    BANKS. 

Putting  aside  these  criticisms,  it  is  evident  from  the  accounts 
that  Cabot  did  not  discover  or  describe  the  Banks  of  New- 
foundland. 

Before  the  English  had  begun  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
fishery,  the  Baccalaos  seems  to  have  been  well  frequented  by 
discoverers.  Coitereal,  Verazzano,  the  Baron  Levy,  Robert 
Thorne,  John  Rut,  and  Hore  require  but  little  comment, 
because  their  objects  were  not  connected  with  the  fisheries. 
The  Basques  were  on  the  coast  fishing  on  the  Grand  Banks 
in  1504.  They,  too,  gave  the  name  to  Cape  Breton.  In  1506, 
Denys,  of  Harfleur,  made  a  map  of  the  Baccalaos  country.  In 
1527,  John  Rut,  sent  by  Henry  VIII.  to  explore,  reported  he 
had  found  in  the  harbor  of  St.  Johns  eleven  sail  of  Normands, 
one  Breton,  and  two  Portuguese  barks,  all  a-fishing.  Master 
Hore,  the  lawyer,  brought  no  news  except  that  they  had  taken 
the  black  bears  "  for  no  bad  food," —  a  fact  we  of  this  generation 
are  ready  to  corroborate.  A  French  fisherman  rescued  his 
party  from  starvation.  Jacques  Cartier,  in  1 534-5,  explored  the 
gulf  and  river  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  wintered  on  the  conti- 
nent, but  his  mind  was  on  the  fur  trade,  and  his  effort  at  colo- 
nization, though  strongly  pressed,  fell  through.  He  says  he 
met  many  ships  of  France  and  Brittany.  Roberval,  who  also 
was  engaged  in  that  enterprise,  arriving  at  St.  John's  in  1542, 
found  there  "  seventeen  ships  of  fishers." 

These  scattered  data  show  that  our  patronized  "  explorers  " 
found  on  their  voyages  fleets  of  fishermen  already  practical 
pilots  of  the  coasts  and  harbors  ;  and  however  much  merit  we 
attribute  to  the  former,  that  of  piloting  the  fishermen  to  the 
new  grounds  of  America  has  no  place  in  the  catalogue. 


14 


In  the  last  half  of  this  century  the  English  slowly  began 
to  participate  in  the  fisheries. 

Parkhurst,  near  the  close  of  the  century,  says  that  gener- 
ally there  were  found  there  more  than  one  hundred  sail  of 
Spaniards,  fifty  sail  of  Portuguese,  one  hundred  and  fifty  sail 
of  French  and  Bretons,  and  fifty  sail  of  English  taking  cod, 
and  twenty  or  thirty  sail  of  whalers. 

Wh'tbourne  says,  in  1615,  there  vrere  four  hundred  sail  of 
French,  Biscayans,  and  Portuguese  frequented  Newfoundland, 
and  two  hundred  sail  of  English. 

There  are  several  authorities  on  the  manners  and  customs 
of  these  fishermen  of  all  nations,  and  the  usages  which  they 
had  adopted.  The  first  comer  in  a  harbor  had  the  right  to 
pick  and  choose  the  locality  for  its  stages,  and  even  to  take 
possession  of  those  unoccupied  which  had  been  left  from  the 
preceding  season.  Complaints  of  their  wilfulness  are  fre- 
quent. The  first  comer  was  the  admiral  of  that  port,  and 
presided  at  the  meetings  of  the  maste  "s  in  port,  who  were  a 
government  in  themselves.  Frequently,  the  early  comers 
shut  the  harbor  against  new  comers.  When  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert  arrived  off  St.  John's  he  found  his  consort,  the 
"  Squirrel,"  anchored  outside  the  harbor,  "  the  English  mer- 
chants" having  forbade  her  entrance.  With  the  aid  of  Sir 
Humphrey's  vessel,  they  prepared  to  force  an  entrance,  de- 
spite the  thirty-six  sail  in  port ;  but  learning  of  his  commission, 
the  "  insiders  "  raised  the  "  bar-out,"  admitted  them,  feasted  the 
officers,  and  the  glorious  old  chief  took  possession,  in  her 
Majesty's  name,  of  the  island  of  Newfoundland  and  the 
Banks,  as  his  fleet  reported  home,  and  as  Capt.  Whitbourne, 
who  WciS  in  the  harbor  in  a  two  hundred  and  twenty  ton  ship, 
"set  forth  by  one  Master  Crook,  of  South  Hampton,"  veri- 
fies, forty  years  afterward,  in  his  narrative. 

The  English  increased  in  the  fishery  rapidly  after  Sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert's  time,  and  their  rough  ways  became  more 
prevalent  as  their   power   increased.      It  was  said   that  no 


15 

people  but  they  were  so  free  to  burn  and  destroy  the  stages 
and  flakes  others  had  left  the  year  before,  to  unroof  their  fish- 
houses,  stave  their  boats,  and  steal  their  salt.  Hakluyt,  in 
1584,  wrote  of  theiTi :  "Whereas,  we  and  the  French  are  most 
infamous  for  our  outrageous,  common,  and  daily  piracies." 
Indeed,  in  161 5,  when  Capt.  Whitbourne,  under  his  commis- 
sion, held  a  court  of  admiralty  there,  aided  by  the  fishing 
skippers,  he  presented  these  grievances,  and  throwing  ballast 
over  in  the  harbor,  stealing  bait,  cutting  nets,  and  fishing  on 
every  day  of  the  week,  and  burning  the  forests,  as  evil  doings 
requiring  abatement.  The  colony,  then  on  the  coast,  was  too 
weak  to  control  the  6,000  British  fishermen,  and  he  recom- 
mended a  fleet  of  four  men-of-war  to  protect  against  these 
evils  and  prevent  the,  frequent  piracies  the  fishermen  suffered 
from,  and  that  arrangements  should  be  made  that  one  fifth  of 
the  fishermen  should  winter  on  the  island,  and  become  the 
nucleus  of  an  extensive  settlement  of  its  large  bays. 


FUR   TRADERS. 


veri- 


Whilst  the  summer  fishermen  were  thriving,  a  lively  fur 
trade  -vith  the  natives  also  was  being  carried  on.  Cartier, 
after  his  discovery  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  spent  several  years  in 
this  pursuit.  It  was  the  main  incentive  of  Roberval's  efforts  to 
form  a  settlement.  These  traders  rarely  spent  the  winter  on 
the  coast,  but  arriving  early,  well  fitted  with  a  proper  assort- 
ment, they  sought  communications  with  the  natives,  and  they 
kept  silence  regarding  the  favorable  places  which  they  found. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  every  river  mouth  and  harbor, 
from  Labrador  to  Florida,  was  explored  in  their  pursuit  of 
trade  during  the  sixteenth  century.  Not  unfrequently  did  it 
happen  that  when  the  trade  was  about  over  for  the  season, 
"the  honest  trader,"  desiring    to  increase  his  gains,   wou!d 


i6 


manage  to  seize  from  one  to  three  dozen  of  the  natives  and 
carry  them  off  as  part  of  his  freight,  and  sell  them  as  slaves. 
Indeed,  the  name  "Labrador"  was  given  to  the  coast  north- 
west of  Newfoundland  by  Cortcreal  or  the  Spaniards,  from 
the  peculiar  fitness  for  labor  its  captured  people  were'^found  to 
possess.  This  special  idiosyncrasy  lasted  long  into  the  next 
century.  The  pious  Puritans  even  found  thrift  in  sending 
King  Philip's  captured  family  as  slaves  to  the  Barbadoes  and 
selling  them.  Candor  requires  it  to  be  said,  that  the  "  admi- 
rals," who  preceded  the  Pilgrims,  like  Hunt,  Weymouth,  etc., 
were  equally  forward  in  a  like  trade. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  early  voyagers  for  discovery  ap- 
pear to  have  thought  it  necessary  to  bring  home  some  of  the 
natives  captives,  probably  sometimes  from  a  feeling  that  this 
would  be  the  strongest  evidence  of  their  actually  having  found 
a  new,  strange  country,  and  more  often  from  a  sense  of  the 
profit  which  might  result  from  the  sale  of  these  people  in  the 
West  Indies,  or  the  exhibition  of  these  curiosities. 

In  1500,  Cortereal  seized  fifty  in  Labrador.  In  1502,  some 
"  salvages "  were  exhibited  in  London  before  the  king.  In 
1508,  Aubert  brought  two  of  them  to  Dieppe,  in  France.  In 
1524,  Gomez  seized  and  brought  home  twenty-four  ;  Verazzano 
brought  one  from  about  North  Carolina,  and  found  the  coast 
in  the  Gulf  of  Maine  alive  with  terror  from  the  doings  of 
some  previous  voyagers. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  extent  of  fur  trade  on  this  coast 
during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  John  Smith,  in 
16 1 4,  says  he  procured  5,000  skins  of  beaver  in  a  few  weeks, 
and  that  20,000  were  shipped  from  Canada.  He  was  not  the 
only  trader.  Beaver  was  the  Indian  medium  of  exchange  for 
European  goods.  South  from  the  Kennebec,  before  the  set- 
tlements of  the  whites,  the  Indians  cultivated  corn,  beans, 
and  what  Mi'.  Choate  soothingly  called  "  that  delicious  escu- 
lent, the  pompion  "  ;  anticipating  our  modern  fertilizers,  they 
manured  their  cornfields  with  two  herrings  to  the  hill.     Their 


17 


5  and 
laves, 
lorth- 
from 
ind  to 
;  next 
nding 
is  and 
admi- 
1,  etc., 

;ry  ap- 
of  the 
at  this 
f  found 
of  the 
in  the 

s,  some 
|.g.  In 
pe.  In 
azzano 
e  coast 
ings  of 

is  coast 
nith,  in 

weeks, 
not  the 

nge  for 
the  set- 
beans, 

s  escu- 

s,  they 
Their 


great  festival  was  when  "  roasting  ears  "  came  in  ;  then,  says 
Champlain,  in  1605,  their  fires  glistened  along  the  coast  ;  they 
danced,  welcomed  the  exploring  Europeans  with  generous 
hospitality,  and  danced  again,  stacking  their  arms  in  the 
centre  of  the  circle.  The  saturnine  character  of  the  Puritan 
settlers  obliterated  this  festival  from  the  eastern  coast,  but  the 
kindly  influences  of  Roger  Williams  and  John  Gorton  pre- 
served it  embodied  with  the  clam  bake  in  Rhode  Island,  until  in 
the  present  generation  it  bic'  iair  to  resume  its  ancient  vogue 
" all  along  shore."  Whf^ther  the  "husking"  was  also  an  In- 
dian festival  does  not  appear,  —  probably  it  was. 

As  the  Indians  here  did  not  raise  any  potatoes,  nor  did  the 
early  settlers,  the  other  famous  coast  dish,  "  the  chowder,"  has 
no  claim  to  Indian  descent. 

The  Indians,  though  skilled  in  the  river  fisheries,  do  not 
seem  to  have  taken  to  the  cod-fishery,  probably  because  they 
were  aware  that  the  European  fishermen,  whose  ships  were  to 
be  filled,  knew  of  good  markets  for  live  Indians,  and  might 
easily  fall  before  the  temptation  to  finish  off  their  cargo  with 
a  catch  of  Indian  fishermen. 


PIRATES. 

The  fishermen  had  great  trouble  from  pirates,  and  indeed  a 
predatory  disposition  often  showed  itself  in  the  fishermen 
themselves.  When  the  combined  force  in  a  harbor  was  out- 
numbered or  overmatched  in  armament  by  some  new  arrival, 
little  more  attention  was  paid  to  rights  of  property  than  Sir 
Francis  Drake  and  other  bold  seamen  paid  to  such  rights 
when  protected  by  the  flag  of  Spain.  True,  the  more  adven- 
turous and  better  armed  were  drawn  by  the  gold  loadstone  to 
plan  the  capture  of  Spanish  galleons ;  the  humble  spoil  of  a 
fisherman  was  too  insignificant  to  divert  them  from  the  gold 


r 


i8 

and  silver  ingots  of  the  vvcll-guarclcd  treasure-ships  of  Spain  ; 
yet,  when  one  came  in  their  way,  he  was  unhesitatingly  robbed 
if  not  captured  as  prize.  Rapacity  grew  apace,  the  fishing 
vessels  were  of  good  size,  the  crews  were  large,  and  armaments 
were  necessary.  Many  quaint  stories  of  robberies  and  at- 
tempts at  compelling  restitution  have  come  down  to  us,  but 
the  names  of  the  well-bred  Sir  Barnard  Drake  and  Hudson 
must  mingle  with  the  vulgar  fame  of  Peter  Easton  and  Tibolo 
and  Dixy  Bull  to  serve  merely  as  specimens  of  the  buccaneer- 
ing habits  of  the  era.  An  instinct  of  better  self-protection 
seems  to  have  led  many  of  the  fishermen  of  different  flags  to 
rendezvous  at  different  harbors,  although  at  many  berths  fish- 
ermen of  all  nations  could  be  found  ;  thus,  where,  afterwards, 
Louisburg  was  built,  was  called  English  Harbor. 


SETTLEMENT. 

The  numerous  efforts  in  the  sixteenth  century  had  all  failed 
to  effect  a  permanent  settlement  because  of  inherent  evils 
m  their  plans.  The  despotic  rule  and  monopoly  of  the  char- 
tered companies  killed  individuality  in  enterprise.  In  the 
absence  of  the  competition  of  free  markets,  the  local  farmer, 
fisherman,  or  lumberman  would  have  been  so  burdened  with 
the  difficulty  and  expense  of  exchange,  that  he  was  forced  to 
rely  on  the  fixed  rates  or  wages  of  the  company  for  his  sup- 
port, rather  than  on  the  profits  of  individualized  energy  and 
industry.  There  can  be  no  growth  without  liberty.  1  he  sys- 
tem of  settlement  provided  no  field  for  profitable  employment 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  and  gave  no  inducement 
for  the  settler  to  spend  the  winter  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

There  was  a  hankering  among  the  "  lords  proprietors  "  to 
establish  the  English  system  of  rents  and  tenures,  not  encour- 
aging to  those  on  whose  labor  the  development  of  the  resources 
of  the  soil  depended. 


19 

The  selection  of  material  was  ill-judged  ;  too  many  soldiers, 
too  many  of  the  sweepings  of  great  cities,— too  few  men  of 
skilled   industries   and    farmers   and   fishermen,  — too    much 
fur  trade.     The  priest  showed  more  knowledge  of  the  human 
heart  than   the  traders  and   soldiers  he  accompanied.     The 
self-reliance  necessary  for  pioneer   success   was   not   sought 
for;  though  zeal  was  not  wanting,  yet  it  was  wasted  on  meth- 
ods and  material  impossible  of  success.     Their  labor  was  not 
fruitful ;  but  as  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the 
Church,  so  with   these   unfortunate  pioneers,  —  founded   on 
their  bones  rests  the  present  glory  of  the  French  and  British 
races  in  North  America. 

The  West  of  Europe  waxed  earnest  to  match  the  power  of 
Spain  in  North  America,  and  to  protect  and  build  up  their 
fisheries. 

Within  a  few  years  after  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  De  Monts  and  Champlain,  under  French  grants,  be- 
gan at  Nova  Scotia  and  Acadia,  and  others  in  Canada.  The 
fishermen  of  England  began  of  themselves  to  settle  in  the 
bays  of  Newfoundland.  King  Jamey  I.  gave  charters  for 
North  and  South  Virginia,  the  latter  being  an  agricultural 
settlement  exclusively,  and  the  former,  from  40°  north  lati- 
tude to  Acadia,  being  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  separate  com- 
pany. This  northern  country  was  not  very  fertile,  its  winters 
were  cold  and  long,  and  no  amount  of  representations  proved 
attractive  to  the  agriculturalists  of  the  British  Islands. 

De  Monts  and  Poutrincourt  had  hard  luck,  but  so  also  had 
Popham  and  Gorges  on  the  agricultural  side  of  their  enter- 
prise. There  was  something  else  that  saved  the  ventures 
from  shipwreck.  Their  charter  gave  admiralty  powers  to  the 
companies.  You  will  recall,  in  your  readings  of  early  history, 
that  Gorges  sent  admiral  after  admiral  to  the  coast  of  New 
England ;  and  that  in  1605,  in  his  first  year,  De  Monts  arrested 
French  traders  hovering  on  his  coast.  You  will  recall  that 
Whitbourne  came  to  Newfomidland  in  161 5  with  an  admiralty 


30 


l!l 


commission,  and  held  what  he  terms  the  first  court  of  admiralty 
ever  held  on  the  coast  of  North  America.  The  object  of  all 
this  admiralty  jurisdiction  was  to  make  fishermen  pay  license, 
and  to  hold  the  monopoly  of  the  rich  fur  trade.  Great  sources 
of  profit  these  were  to  the  companies,  whilst  the  permanent 
settlements  on  shore  w6rc  a  heavy  bill  of  expense. 

It  is  instructive  to  follow,  through  the  .scattered  chronicles 
of  the  doings  of  these  three  great  companies,  the  misty  traces 
of  the  operating  causes  on  their  progress.  The  monopolies 
carved  out  to  each  were  alike  odious  to  the  free  fishermen  who 
were  brought  under  impositions  for  which  they  received  no 
benefit  in  return  ;  consequently  a  steady  opposition  at  home, 
to  the  patentees,  alike  in  England  and  in  France,  was  main- 
tained by  them  and  their  outfitters.  In  this,  the  old  fur 
traders  joined.  The  chartered  compaiiies  sent  out  their 
exploring  expeditions,  fitted  to  trade  and  fish  in  their  re- 
spective limits,  and  to  drive  off,  capture,  or  license  all  others 
as  intruders.  The  intruders  were  the  most  numerous  and  the 
best  posted  in  vhe  course  of  trade,  the  habits  of  the  fish,  and 
the  weather,  harbors,  and  landfalls  of  the  coast. 

Capt.  John  Smith  states  that  prior  to  his  voyage  in  1614  he 
had  procured  seven  or  eight  charts  from  the  fishermen  and 
traders  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  frequenting  the  coast  of 
New  England,  and  probably  all  the  exploring  voyages  of  the 
century  conducted  for  the  companies  were  similarly  supplied 
from  the"  old  skippers  who  had  long  frequented  the  coast. 
Poutrincourt,  in  1606,  describes  his  interviews  at  Canseau 
with  Savelettey  an  old  fisherman,  who  had  made  forty-tivo 
voyages  to  the  coast!  Smith,  again,  after  describing  the 
Isles  of  Shoals,  speaks  of  the  Merrimack  River,  but  states  he 
did  not  enter  it  because  two  French  ships  were  lying  there 
who  had  traded  there  for  several  years.  Mourt,  in  his 
"Relation,"  speaks  of  an  abandoned  French  fort,  and  a  plank- 
built  house  the  Pilgrims  found  on  Cape  Cod  at  their  first 
landing. 


The  languor  of  the  colonial  clforts  of  the  French  at  St. 
Croix,  Port  Royal,  Mt.  Desert,  etc.,  and  of  the  English  at 
New  Somerset,  Monhegan,  and  Saco,  was  suddenly  changed 
into  energy  by  a  discovery  that  offered  prosperity  to  indi- 
vidual energy,  and  made  a  residence  on  the  coast  pecuniarily 
desirable. 


)lank- 
first 


WINTER  FISHERY. 

The  Newfoundland  men  of  enterprise  had  founded  a  settle- 
ment very  early.  Capt.  Mason,  afterwards  a  grantee  of  New 
Hampshire,  was  there  as  governor  for  some  time.  John  Guy, 
the  worshipful,  late  mayor  of  Bristol,  and  others,  in  1608,  had 
tried  the  winter  climate.  Whitbourne  asserted  the  interest  of 
the  fishermen  in  a  permanent  settlement  was  to  preserve  their 
stages  and  boats,  and  begin  earlier  the  spring  and  carry  on 
the  autumn  fishery  later.  His  arguments  were  in  the  interest 
of  the  summer  fishery.  The  experiment,  casually  tried,  devel- 
oped the  fact  that  the  winter  fishery  was  better  than  the 
summer  along  the  coast  of  Acadia  and  to  the  eastward  of 
Cape  Ann  ;  that  the  cod  come  in  from  off  shore  to  the  coast 
at  this,  their  spawning  season,  and  that  a  positive  profit  would 
result  from  fishing  in  the  winter  season  near  the  shore.  This 
renewed  the  zeal  and  enterprise  of  the  Acadian  and  North 
Virginia  proprietors  to  establish  stations  along  the  coast  for 
the  fishery,  and  the  hope  that  their  land  might  consequently 
derive  an  agricultural  value  again  sprung  up  in  their  minds. 
None  more  earnest  than  Gorges  in  obtaining  a  reorganization 
of  his  company  under  a  broader  charter,  and  in  circulating  the 
fact  that  the  coast  of  Maine  was  the  Eldorado  of  winter  fishing, 
and  the  fishermen  came.  Gorges,  in  his  narrative,  states  that 
in  October,  161 5,  Sir  Richard  Hakings,  in  his  employ,  sailed 
for  this  coast,  and  in  the  following  season  sent  home  his  ship 
laden  with  fish  for  the  market.     This  is  the  first  winter-caught 


•HMMIMiAMHM 


sae 


22 


cargo  that  I  ha'/e  traced.  Gorges  complains  that  for  several 
years  he  "  had  to  hire  men  to  stay  there  the  winter  quarter  at 
extreme  rates."  We  know  that  in  1619  they  wintered  at 
their  favorite  station,  Monhegan^  the  year  before  the  Pil- 
grims came  over  ;  how  often  prior,  we  do  not  know.  There  is 
'^very  reason  to  believe  they  continued  to  winter  there  as  well 
as  summer,  for  years  afterwards.  The  Piscataqua  and  the 
Plymouth  men  bought,  in  1626,  on  the  breaking  up  of  a  trading 
house  there,  a  lot  of  goats,  for  the  relief  of  the  Plymouth  colony. 
It  and  Damrell's  Cove  were  the  resort  for  goods  anu  trade 
of  the  whole  coast.  Phineas  Pratt,  who  arrived  in  the  spring 
of  1622,  describes  the  fishermen  gathering  around  their  May- 
pole at  Damrell's  Cove,  and  making  merry  in  a  style  that  would 
have  gladdened  Old  Herrick's  heart  and  woke  his  song  could ■ 
he  have  been  there.  In  161 7- 18,  Vines  and  a  party  wintered 
at  Saco,  and  foi  several  other  seasons,  I  infer  from  Gorges's 
account. 

In  1623  the  Isles  of  Shoals  was  a  berth  for  six  shipc,  according 
to  Levett.  The  English  fishermen  drew  around  this  coast  in 
shoals  that  increased  every  year.  Their  stages  were  set  up  in 
every  favorable  harbor.  Strong  in  their  numbers  and  united  on 
the  question  of  a  free  fishery,  the  lords  proprietors  found  their 
"  admirals  "  were  unable  to  extract  the  coveted  license  money, 
and  were  compelled  to  take  their  chance  on  even  footing  in 
throwing  the  cod-line  and  hook,  and  in  chumming  the  glittering 
mackerel  to  the  surface.  The  winter-fishery  profits  were  the 
nucleu?  Tor  the  settlements  that  began  along  the  eastern  coast. 
This  Piscataqua  was  based  upon  it.  At  Cape  Ann,  the  Dor- 
chester people  began,  in  1623,  a  permanent  settlement  con- 
nected therewith,  wMch,  in  1627,  they  removed  to  Naumke?";, 
now  Salem,  the  root  and  stem  on  which  the  Bay  colony  was 
grafted.  Subsequently  Mason  had  another  settlement  on  the 
Cape,  probably  at  Ipswich.  Levett  tried  to  plant  one  at 
Quack,  now  Portland,  Gorges  at  York,  Winter  and  Vines 
and  others  at  various  points  eastward.     Monhegan  and  the 


23 


Isles  of  Shoals  remained  the  main  places  where  the  incomers 
endeavored  to  make  their  landfalls,  and  whence  the  home- 
ward bound  took  their  departure  from  our  coast.  Trade  was 
lively  east  of  Cape  Ann.  The  Plymouth  Pilgrims  were  not 
fishermen,  and  they  located  in  a  very  poor  place  for  fishing, 
out  of  the  line  of  cruising  of  the  fishermen,  and  on  very  poor 
land;  hence,  they  almost  starved,  lacking  fish  as  well  as  corn. 
And  while  the  fishermen  were  catching  fish  by  the  scores  of 
thousands,  the  unskilled  but  undaunted  Pilgrims  would  strive 
all  day  to  get  enough  for  their  own  consumption,  and  very 
often  fail  at  that.  In  the  process  of  time  their  descendants 
learned  the  art  among  our  Eastern  folk,  and  then  Cape  Cod 
men  took  equal  rank  among  the  hardy  skippers  and  sharesmen 
who  have  made  the  whale  and  cod  fisheries  famous.  When 
the  Pilgrims  grew  short  of  food,  they  sent  down  to  the  Pis- 
cataqua  or  to  Monhegan  or  to  Damrell's  Cove  for  supplies, 
and  never  asked  in  vain,  the  generous  fishermen  even  raising 
for  them  their  stove  boat,  and  helping  to  make  her  again 
seaworthy. 

[it  was  the  winter  fishery  that  placed  on  our  coasts  a  class 
of  permanent  consumers,  and  gave  to  agriculture  the  possibil- 
ity of  flourishing.  The  lumber  trade  ma'-ched  beside  it.  In 
these  pursuits,  they  who  tilled  the  land  during  the  short 
summer  could  find  profitable  employment  in  the  winter  on 
the  ocean  or  in  the  forest  near  their  homes.  The  elements 
for  supporting  a  family  were  thus  united  together.  It  was  the 
winter  fishery,  prosecuted  in  boats  from  the  shore,  as  it 
usually  was,  that  furnished,  not  merely  a  supply  of  food  to  the 
fisherman's  family,  but  an  article  which  was  a  medium  of  ex- 
charge  that  was  in  demand  with  the  traders  on  land,  or  the 
fishing  smacks  which  came  in  fleets  to  fill  up  a  cargo,  ind 
sure  to  command  goods  or  money,  as  his  necessities  demanded. 
It  secured  employment  all  the  year  round  to  the  industrious, 
and  made  a  residence  profitable.  It  thus  also  gave  to  the 
industrious  the  great  boon  of  independence,  the  foundation  of 


^ 


24 

cbaractor  in  the  individual,  and  in  the  State.  Agriculture  fol- 
lowed with  halting  steps  where  it  led  the  way.  There  was  no 
crop  that  the  land  produced  for  expo!t,  like  the  tobacco  of 
Virginia  or  the  indigo  and  sugai:  of  the  West  Indies ;  no 
great  prairie  range  for  pasturage  of  either  cattle  or  sheep,   j 

The  early  agriculture  of  the  country  was  not  carried  on  ac- 
cording to  English  plans.  The  settlers  adopted  the  habits  of 
the  country  and  the  crop,  planted  Indian  corn  in  the  Indian 
way,  and  hoed  and  manured  it,  two  herrings  to  hill,  as  the 
Indians  did.  Mourt's  "  Relation  "  states  that  Squanto  taught 
the  Pilgrims  how  to  plant  corn.     Their  English  grain  failed. 

The  first  cattle  were  brought  over  to  the  Dorchester  settle- 
ment, at  Cape  Ann,  in  1623-4,  3^"^  the  same  or  the  next  year 
a  fev/  also  came  to  Plymouth.  The  Dorchester  people,  "  the 
old  planters"  of  Massachusetts,  who  proved  the  country  and 
the  fisheries  before  Endicott  or  Winthrop  came  over,  testified 
that  they  and  the  Indians  at  Naumkeag  cultivated  a  cornfield 
together  and  in  common. 

The  rush  to  these  coasts  preceded  the  progress  of  its  agri- 
culture. Our  crops  did  not  supply  the  needs  for  food,  much 
less  furnish  an  export  trade.  The  winter  and  summer  fish- 
eries, and  the  lumber,  were  the  exports  that  furnished  the 
means  to  buy  the  necessaries  of  life,  only  to .  be  had  from 
Europe.  Capital  found  employment  in  regular  trade,  and  the 
arts  connected  with  navigation  flourished  and  grew  apace. 
■  The  early  history  of  New  England  shows  that  those  who 
having  procured  grants  of  land  came  here  with  an  eye  to 
trading  with  the  Indians,  were  in  constant  quarrels  from  their 
rivalry,  and,  in  their  efforts  to  break  up  each  other's  "  beaver 
trade,"  rarely  spared  their  settlements.  Thus  the  poor  attor- 
ney of  Merry  Mount,  Morton,  Mr.  Weston,  Mr.  Oldham,  and 
others  suffered  at  various  times  from  stronger  rivals  among 
their  countrymen.  Sometimes,  indeed,  the  unco-righteous 
would  slander  the  gentle  craft,  the  fishermen,  accusing  them 
of  some  of  the  infirmities  of  humanity    Thus  they  fined  a  man 


25 

at  the  Isles  of  Shoals  for  bringing  his  wife  out  there  to  live 
with  him  ;  and  a  Bay  State  clergyman,  speaking  of  another 
fishing  place,  said  a-,woman  there  was  divided  into  as  many 
shares  as  one  of  their  fishing  smacks.  Every  ouc  smiled  at 
the  malice,  but  none  credited  the  defamation.  The  fishermen 
plied  their  profitable  trade  and  sang,  as  Jenness  says,  — 

"  Oh,  the  herring  he  loves  the  merry  moonh*ght, 
The  mackerel  loves  the  wind  ; 
But  the  grampus  loves  the  fisherman's  sonff. 
For  he  comes  of  a  gentle  kind." 

Indifferent  that  the  temperature  was  near  zero,  the  wind  a 
half  gale,  and  the  sea  rising  fast  as  he  filled  his  open  boat  with 
the  twelve-pound  cod,  the  hardy  fisherman  toiled  on,  rejoicing 
that  his  home  was  but  a  few  miles  off. 

VThe  discovery  that  the  cod  approach  these  shores  to  spawn 
in  the  winter,  whilst  late  in  the  spring  and  summer  they  are 
found  at  greater  distances  from  the  coast,  and  notably  on 
Georges,  the  Grand  Banks,  Jeffries,  etc ,  completed  a  fisher- 
man's round,  giving  him  a  home  fishery  for  the  months  when 
the  dangers  on  the  Banks  are  greatest,  and  perfecting  an  eco- 
nomical employment  of  his  timeTl 

Incident  to  the  fisheries  were  those  of  the  mackerel  and 
herring,  together  with  the  salmon  and  shad  that  frequented 
the  rivers  of  tb.^  coast,  and  the  abundance  of  lobsters  and 
clams  of  savory  flavor,  vhich  delighted  and  often  sustained 
the  early  settlers  on  the  coast ;  but  although  exercising  some 
influence  in  the  location  of  settlements,  they  cannot  be  said 
to  have  induced  the  emigration  to  these  shores. 

The  whale  fishery  follo'ved,  rather  than  led,  the  settlement 
of  the  coast. 
[in  the  natural  order,  the  continuous  employment  a  residence 
on  these  coasts  afforded  to  the  fishermen,  gave  him  great  ad- 
vantages over  the  European  and  those  who  had  no  winter 
fishery  at  their  doors,  and  the  fishing   population  rapidly  in- 


1^=^ 


«*■■■ 


38 


26 


creased  in  numbers  and  prosperity,  bringing  with  it  commerce 
and  an  agricultural  population.  Let  me  be  clear,  neither  Pil- 
grims nor  Puritans  were  its  pioneers  ;  neither  the  axe,  the 
plough,  nor  the  hoe  led  it  to  tl  ese  shores  ;  neither  the  devices 
of  the  chartered  companies  nor  the  commands  of  royalty.  It 
was  the  discovery  of  the  winter  fishery  on  its  shores  that  led 
New  England  to  civilization,  and  fed  alike  the  churchmen  and 
the  strange  emigrants  who  came  with  the  romance  of  their 
faith  in  their  hearts,  and  the  lex  talionis  in  their  souls  to  per- 
secute because  they  had  been  persecuted^  May  I  be  pardoned 
for  the  imperfect  manner  in  which  I  have  presented  the  claim 
of  the  fishermen,  that  gentle,  practical,  and  self-reliant  craft, 
to  the  discovery  of  America  north  of  40°,  to  the  exploration 
of  its  coasts,  and  finally  to  its  successful  settlement  and 
civilization. 


■"lii 


